This is Home
by wattamelon19
Summary: All human. When Ella's dad dies, she must move from London, England to America with her mom and half-sister Max. Her, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge play match maker with Max and Fang, but when a horrible accident occurs, can Ella see the love it creates for her and another member of the Flock? Or will it tear them apart?
1. Prologue (Chapter 1)

**I don't own Maximum Ride. **

I could see. My eyes seemed to be drinking in all of the white around me. White walls, white ceiling, white blanket. Everything was white. Nothing had a shape to it; it just was. Slowly, slowly, everything came into a better focus. I could see a monitor to the right of me, a green light was slowly rising and falling. I was reminded of a hospital whenever I saw that, but that couldn't be where I was. Could it? No, surely not. We were just at a concert last night, weren't we? And Max was driving home and we were all arguing over which song was sung best. That's right, I had agreed with Iggy.

Iggy. I wonder where he is. Is he in this hospital too?

Somewhere during my wondering, my eyes had closed again, and only then did I notice the silence. It was everywhere, swallowing me completely. I couldn't find a way out. I couldn't get out of the silence that was all around me. I opened my eyes again, thinking that some sort of noise would come to my ears when they were opened. I waited patiently, but no noise came.

None at all.

Something did come, however, and that something was Max.

"Max?" I tried to ask, but my voice didn't seem to be working. My mouth had moved, I felt the word leave my throat, but I didn't hear it. Was I broken?

"Ella? Ella?! MOM!" I saw Max say the words. I could tell that she was excited, could tell that her voice rose whenever she said "Mom". But I didn't hear it.

**A/N: I wrote this prologue after I wrote chapters 1-4. The rest of the chapters will be longer than this one, but I needed to put this in the beginning to explain what is going to happen later in the story. **


	2. Chapter 2 (Ella):

**A/N: I've wanted to do a story like this for a while, and now that I'm finally getting to do it, I'm so excited! I have to introduce everybody, so stick with me please! Oh, and the prologue before this chapter hasn't happened yet. It was just a preview for what is going to happen. Review (: **

**I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the songs/bands I may mention. **

**I also can't keep Jesus out of my stories, but why would I want to keep Him out? **

**ALSO! I've been editing this story a whole lot, so that's why this chapter is different now. Haha (:**

I loved my mom. Whenever her and my dad had separated, I wanted to stay with her and Max, but Dad wouldn't have it. He pretty much forced me to go live with him in London. We were fine living together, I guess, but I still skyped Mom and Max most every night. I lived with him for four years. For two of those years, he was plagued with melanoma, a particularly viscous type of skin cancer. It was awful seeing him fall apart slowly like that, but I knew God would get us through it, and He did. My dad now rests peacefully in Heaven.

The law people weren't too keen on letting me stay in London by myself for a whole year because I'm seventeen, so now I have to move back to America with Mum and Max. It's kind of nerve wracking, actually. I just had a bad feeling whenever the plane took off, like something was going to happen, and usually those feelings are enough to keep me from going somewhere. I couldn't stay in London, though, because A: The police won't let me, and B: I don't want to. England just doesn't have good memories for me right now. Really, the only thing I'm going to miss is my friends, Emmy and Karaline. They were awesome. And Aaron. I guess I'll miss him too, but it'll be a while before that feeling sets in. I just broke up with him and he was kind of a jerk about it, so I don't think I'll be missing him for a while.

**OoOOoO **

I looked around the plane after a couple hours, and noticed that there were no empty seats. I guess America is popular this time of year. The guy beside of me had immediately fallen asleep as soon as we had taken off, but thankfully, his head was resting against the back of his seat and not on my shoulder. My knee bounced nervously as it always does whenever I'm in an enclosed space. Both Max and I had always been pretty claustrophobic, especially after Max started having these crazy recurring nightmares of her being trapped in a dog crate with a bunch of scientists that had put her through all sorts of crazy tests. And she also had wings. Weird, right? Well, ever since she told me about that dream, enclosed spaces had not been my best friend.

My eyelids suddenly weighed about a billion pounds and I found it difficult to keep them open. The movement of the plane was slowly rocking me to sleep, and I gave in after a couple of minutes.

**OoOOoO**

I was alone in a gorgeous blue lake with a huge waterfall cascading down these really shiny rocks above me. The sun was shining bright and clear, and from what I could see, this place was literally Paradise. It was beautiful.

A movement above me caught my eye, and I looked up, startled. There was a boy, just standing on one of the rocks that the waterfall's water touched. He was smiling down at me and mouthing, "Watch this, Ella!" I couldn't hear him. Why couldn't I hear him?

"Iggy!" I felt the unfamiliar word leave my throat in a shout. I didn't hear that, either. I splashed the water beside me, waiting for the sound to hit my ears, but it didn't. I couldn't hear anything; I was deaf. For some reason, this didn't seem to bother my dream self, and instead of panicking, I looked back up at the boy I had called Iggy. He was tall, at least 6'3, and had very pale skin with light strawberry blonde hair and ice blue eyes to match. He was pretty high above me and I could see that he was looking in my direction, but not right at me. His eyes were focused on a spot right beside of me, and I only figured out why when he took a flying leap towards that spot. He did two front flips and a twist, falling head first into the water just to the right of me, making barely a splash. I almost fainted from giddiness, but I couldn't figure out why I was giddy. I didn't even know this boy, did I?

His head shot out of the water a few seconds later and he was wearing a huge smile on his face. His pale skin was glistening from the water droplets sliding slowly off of his arms.

"Yeah! The blind guy can do legit dives!" he said slowly with a happy expression on his face. I didn't hear what he said that time either, but I read his lips. My eyes darted to his, and I could now see that his light blue eyes were cloudy; he was blind. And you know, that wasn't even the strangest thing about him. The strangest thing? The huge white wings with dark brown streaks folded up neatly against his back. I was just about to ask about the wings, but I guess God had other plans for me, because that was when I woke up.

My eyes shot open and I snapped my fingers next to my ears just to see if I could hear the sound I knew they'd make. _Snap!_ Oh, my gosh. Ohh. I could hear. It was just a dream. Only a dream. _Thank you, Lord_. What was the meaning of that dream, though? I usually have dreams about what I was thinking of while I was trying to fall asleep, but I wasn't thinking of anything except my depleted iPod battery! Was I going insane? Oh well, at least that guy Iggy was kind of cute, even if he did have wings. I wonder if he's a real person.

I leaned over to the small window beside my seat and caught my breath once I saw the view below. It was New York. I had always dreamed of seeing New York at night, of walking through the crowded streets (although I got enough of that in London), of hearing all sorts of different people from different places talk in their different accents. **A/N: I just said different like three times! **I've just heard people talk about New York a lot because for some reason, everybody in London is obsessed with the place. I used to not know why, but now I do. It's beautiful with all of the lights shining, a full moon, and the amazing skyline. Plus, I have an aerial view, which just adds to the awesomeness of the place. I pressed my face right up against the window, which turned out to be a bad idea because my breath fogged up the whole thing as soon as I breathed on it. Oh well, might as well take advantage of it, right? I drew a cross and a smiley face in the fog, which used to get on my dad's last nerve. "Well, I can't draw well on paper, but I can on a window," I would complain to him. He would roll his eyes and shake his head, but he was also smiling.

I smiled at the memory. I'm very good at remembering my dad before he got sick and had to take chemotherapy, before he got so weak that he couldn't walk and I had to get our neighbor, Greg to help me with him. I prefer to remember the happy, smiling dad that had caused my mom so much heartbreak. I guess that's the one thing I didn't like about my dad; he left my mom and made me leave both her and Max. Divorce just tears a family apart, and it's one of the few things I hate. Divorce and spaghetti. I mean, that stuff is just gross! Unlike butter noodles. Butter noodles are fantastic.

I turned my iPod back on despite the alarmingly low battery. Yeah, I'm just a rebel like that. I flicked through the songs, trying to find one of those that describes exactly how you're feeling and it's just like…YES! The Scientist by Coldplay should do well enough; I need a slow song. Plus, it's pretty. My eyes started to shut once again. _Nobody said it was easy…_

Needless to say, I had had my fair share of crazy dreams that night, and I had a dreamless sleep until the guy beside of me rudely awakened me. You know how he woke me up? He poked me in the shoulder with a pencil and said "GET UP!" in a not-so-quiet voice.

"Uhh," I whispered, grabbing my carry-on bag and walking right off of the plane. I'm not in the best of moods when I wake up, if you can't tell. The little hallway that attached the plane to the airport was annoyingly long, but the view was cool. I could see planes being loaded, planes taking off, and the pink sunrise. I was so entranced by the sunrise that I didn't notice when the hall ended and promptly walked into a lady in a business suit. She looked very official, and a few people gasped when I hit her.

"Sorry," I mumbled. The lady's eyebrows shot almost into the sky.

"It's okay with me, but my bodyguard would like for you to leave," she said loftily. I studied the guy standing beside of her, who looked very bodyguardish indeed.

"Yeah, I should probably…" I trailed off when I saw who was standing behind the lady. Completely forgetting about her and the sketchy bodyguard, I ran towards the motherly looking lady and the teenager standing beside her.

"Maaaaaaaax!" I yelled excitedly. She looked just like I remembered her, tall and skinny with blondish brown hair. She had gotten a great deal prettier in the last four years though, and I felt just a bit of jealousy rising in my stomach. Horrified, I shook the feeling off just as I crashed into her arms.

"Hey, Ella!" she yelled back. "I missed you so much! I can't believe your gonna live with us!"

"Girls," my mother said disapprovingly. Oh yeah. Airport. Raised voices were probably not encouraged here.

"Hi, mum," I said, lowering my voice and giving her a hug. Yep, just as I remembered. She still smelled like hot chocolate and freshly baked lemon bread. Odd combination, I know, but it still smells like Heaven.

"Oh, I can't believe I'm finally seeing my Ella after all of these years," she whispered, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Mom!" Max said. "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to cry?"

"We did, but well, I missed you!" Mum said, crushing me in another hug. Wow, that lady had arms of steel.

"Missed you too. Uh, mum? I can't breathe." I grunted.

"Sorry, Ells!" she said, immediately releasing me. I smiled at them both, and we walked hand in hand to the baggage claim to retrieve my too-large suitcase. You should've seen Max's face when she saw it. Her jaw dropped nearly to the floor and she yelled "Ella! What did you _bring_?"

"Everything," I replied happily. "Guess who's going to get an English makeover when we get home?"

"You wouldn't," she said threateningly.

"Oh yes I would," I teased, wiggling my eyebrows. She narrowed her eyes and stalked off, leading us to the car.

"Gotta love messing with Max," I whispered to Mum when she was out of earshot. She just smiled at me like she hadn't seen me in four years, which I suppose was right. I think I could get used to living with them again.

**A/N: What do you think? **


	3. Chapter 3 (Ella):

**A/N: Here's chapter 2! You all have a very blessed day. (: Review and make my day!**

**I don't own Maximum Ride or the songs/bands I may mention in this chapter.**

"Is it me, or is everything getting smaller and smaller?" I asked Max, staring out the window in horror. I was used to big cities! Not small towns!

"Oh, you just wait. It won't stop shrinking until you've officially hit the Welcome to McDowell County! sign. I think we live in the smallest town in the entire world, or at least all of Arizona. There's just not enough sky here. I like the sky," Max complained.

"Now, Max," Mum said gently. "Do you really want to move to Phoenix during the first week of your senior year?" Oh, she had hit Max with that one. I mean, who would want to change schools during their senior year? Okay, I would if I went to a military school or something, but I didn't. And now I'm missing Emmy and Karaline more than ever. I haven't hit the "I miss my ex-boyfriend" stage yet, thankfully.

"Good point," Max huffed, defeated. I went back to staring out the window. I had counted seven dollar stores, one huge Wal-Mart, about eighty million gas stations, and about ninety million churches.

"Okay, I'm thrilled that there are so many churches here, but does a town this size really need that many?" I asked. Mum turned back at me and smiled.

"We do seem to have an excess of churches here, don't we?" she said softly.

"Uhh. Yeah," I replied. Then, "Whoa, what is that huge building?"

Max laughed and pointed to the building I was referring to. It was nestled between two dry looking hills, and it looked almost like a prison. Wow. A town this small with a prison that big? What did they do here?

"That's our school, Ella. McDowell High, home of the Titans. Woo." She said unenthusiastically. Our _school? _No way.

"Why does our school look uncannily like a prison?" I asked, my British accent coming out in the word "uncannily". I sounded so out of place here.

"Okaay, you lost me at uncannily. What kind of vocabulary does you Brits use, anyway?" Max said.

It was my turn to laugh. Before my parents split, I used to get on Max's nerves every time I said a word that she didn't know. "Let me simplify it for you, Maxie dearest. Why does our school look just like a prison?"

Her jaw twitched, and she smiled suddenly. "That's exactly what Fang says! You guys will get along great. But yeah, it does look like a prison, and it feels like that most of the time, especially in math class."

"Ugh. Maths. Worst subject known to man," I complained.

"Maths?"

"Oh, shut up. It's what I'm used to saying!"

"It's cuuute!"

I glared at her and she smiled cheekily. "Who's Fang?" I asked, surprised when she blushed. My mum laughed at Max's strangled expression, and I couldn't help but laugh too. I've never seen Max so tongue-tied before.

"Fang is only the guy that I've tried to get Max to date for the last four years, ever since he moved to McDowell County," Mum said quickly before Max could say anything.

"He is not!" Max said in a strangled voice. 'He's just…my best friend. We're really close, and he knows pretty much everything about me, and we go to the same church. He's awesome."

"Uh-huh. _Best friends_," I teased. "Is he attractive?" Max blushed again, confirming the answer to my question.

"Yes. I guess he's kind of cute. Only kind of!" she muttered, defeated. Mum nodded to me in the rear-view mirror. "He's gorgeous," she mouthed.

"Cougar," I mouthed back. She stuck her tongue out at me. Darn. I didn't have a comeback to that one, so I just stuck mine out too.

"What does he look like?" I asked innocently, wanting to see if Max blushed again. Unfortunately, she seemed to have herself under control by now.

"He's tall, he wears black a lot, he's pretty ripped, and his hair is longish, but not too long," she said quickly, mushing the words together like she was trying to prevent me from understanding what she was saying.

"So, he's pretty much beautiful," I said. Max rolled her eyes at me, blushing yet again. "HA! HE IS! YOU'RE BLUSHING!" I shouted. We all laughed, even Max, despite her embarrassment. Every time we'd stop laughing, gasping and holding our stomachs, we'd look at each other and start over again. My stomach was hurting like crazy, but it was worth it.

"What?" I asked. She had asked a question, but I hadn't heard it.

"I was asking if you remember that nightmare I used to have when we were younger," she said impatiently.

"Yeah, I remember. It used to freak us out pretty badly," I answered.

"I know it did, and I stopped having it for a while, but it's started up now, only it's worse this time," she whispered.

"Worse? How?" I asked, unconsciously lowering my voice like she did.

"Well, I'm still trapped in the dog crate, still in pain, and I still have the wings, but now I'm not alone. This time, all my friends from school are in it. There's even this guy Gazzy's little sister, Angel."

"Whoa. That's weird," I said, amazed. "Have you told your friends?"

"No," she said slowly. "Well, I told Fang 'cause I knew he wouldn't laugh at me."

"Max, nobody would laugh at a nightmare like that," I assured her.

"I know, but it's creepy! I mean, it has _all_ of them in it, and they all have wings! They even look and sound like themselves, which is even creepier."

"Speaking of friends, who do you hang out with? I can't have my sister being my only friend," I said, trying to change the subject. I saw the scared look slowly leave her eyes.

"I've already told you about Fang, and the only other person in our grade that is fun to be around is Iggy," she murmured.

Iggy? _Iggy?_ She said Iggy, didn't she? _No way. There is no way that the guy in my dream is real…is there? _Maybe it's not the same guy, I mean, Iggy's a pretty common name, isn't it? Ah, who am I kidding? Nobody has the name Iggy.

"Max," I said, my voice shaky. "What does Iggy look like?" She raised her eyebrows, surprised. Uh-oh. I knew what was coming next, and it was payback for teasing her about Fang, but hey! I'm suspicious of her and him now, what with all of that blushing that was going on.

"Does wee Ella want to find a cute guy before she starts school?" Max asked in a very bad Scottish accent. I managed to hold a straight face for about 3.8 seconds before bursting out laughing.

"What?" she whined. "My Scottish accent is perfect!"

"Um, no. Just no," I said. She rolled her eyes.

"He's really tall, like 6'4, and he has really, really pale skin, like paler than yours." I looked down at my arms. They were pretty pale. (Tanning just doesn't have an appeal after you see your father pass away from skin cancer. Pale is pretty!) "And he has this weird strawberry blonde hair that never lays flat! Oh my gosh, Gazzy was practically sitting on his head one day trying to flatten it," she laughed. I got the crazy image in my head that went with that statement and started to laugh again. Iggy and Gazzy must be quite the pair.

"So him and Gazzy are pretty close?" I asked, happy that my voice was no longer shaking. Max scoffed at me.

"Close? They're practically attached at the hip, despite the fact that Iggy's a senior and Gazzy is a sophomore. See, Gazzy's a science nerd, so he takes 12th grade science with Iggy. They're very skilled at blowing things up," she said, shaking her head. "I didn't know a blind kid could make mashed potatoes explode with such velocity."

I froze at the words "blind kid".

"Who's blind?" I asked urgently. _No way, God. This is the craziest dream You've given me yet. _

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that part. Iggy's been blind since he was seven, I think, but nobody but Gazzy knows what happened because that's the only person he's told. I think he's still upset about it even though he's adjusted to life without sight pretty well."

I think my jaw dropped to the floor. Whaaat? That. Is. So. WEIRD. I shook my head and shoulders to calm myself down a little. Jesus knew what He was doing; I just had to trust. Truusst.

"Oh," I said weakly. "That's nice that he's adjusted."

Max just nodded. "And then there's Nudge, who's in tenth grade and talks all the time, at any place. My advice: Don't get her started, because once she starts, she won't stop for a looong time."

"Got it," I laughed. "Thank you for your wonderful advice."

"Yeah, I'm awesome, I know. That's pretty much it for the Flock, but Gazzy's little sister, Angel, somehow manages to eat lunch with us because the high school is connected to the middle school. She's bullied a lot," Max explained.

"That's awful! Why?"

"That's what Gazzy and I were trying to figure out! We don't know, and Angel won't tell us why. She just came up to us one day, crying. She said that everybody was calling her "creepy". I think they're just jealous because she's quite possibly the most beautiful creature to walk the earth."

"So the name Angel is very fitting?" I asked.

"Very," Max replied.

"One more question. Is Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy their actual names, or are they just nicknames?"

At this, both my mom and Max laughed.

"I'm so used to calling them that, I forgot that those names were just nicknames," Mom said. Max nodded.

"Oh, there's explanations for how they came to be, just let me explain," Max said, holding her side from laughing so hard. And with that, she launched into a very long, very hilarious (and gross, Gazzy) explanation of how the nicknames came to be, and why they (Max and her friends) call themselves the flock.

Yeah, I could definitely get used to living here.


	4. Chapter 4 (Ella):

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing! :D I checked it this morning and almost flipped out whenever I saw them (: Yay! So here's a new chapter! This one will be fun to write. And I had a buuunch of free time today, so that's why this chapter is posted. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, any of the songs/bands that I might mention, or **_**Romeo and Juliet**_**. **

My first few days with my mum and Max were very interesting. For one, all of the houses were so far apart! I was used to living in a minuscule apartment, not a whole house complete with a yard and tire swing. The tire swing was my favorite place to be, I could just sit and look at the landscape around me in shorts and a t-shirt. That's another thing about Arizona; the heat. It was so hot here I could probably wear shorts in the winter. In London, I had to wear jackets in the middle of summer! I had to get used to this new heat. Sunscreen was going to be my new best friend.

"Ella!" I head Max's voice coming from inside the house.

"What?" I yelled back.

"Come here! I need to ask you a very important question," she replied.

"Uhh," I groaned, sliding out of the tire swing. Max was using her I-am-the-older-sister-and-you-must-obey-me voice. She wasn't older than me by much; we are in the same grade.

"What do you want?" I asked when I reached the house. It was mercifully air-conditioned in here, and Mum was making her amazing lemonade. I wish Mum's cooking skills were hereditary. If Max and I so much as put waffles in a toaster, they ended up burned.

"Well, I have this project for school," She began in a sweet voice. "And Fang, Iggy, and I have to film the entire play of Romeo and Juliet, and you would be my favorite sister in the entire world if you'd help."

"Favorite sister? I'm your _only_ sister! And what would I have to do, anyways? Cause I am not kissing you!"

"No, Fang's Romeo, I'm Juliet, and Iggy's the Friar, but I need you to be Nurse and both of the Capulets, and probably a couple servants. Please? You'll get to wear a fake muustacch," she pleaded. A fake mustache? Oh, yes!

"But I'm not a good actor, and do you know all of the teasing opportunities that comes with Fang playing Romeo and you playing Juliet?"

"Please! I need your accent! Plus you'll get to meet the Flock before you start school tomorrow, and then you'll have friends before you even have to go. It saves a lot of that first day awkwardness," she said with a glint in her eye. I sighed in defeat. First day awkwardness stinks, and after hearing Max tell a lot of crazy stories of the Flock, I was pretty excited to meet them.

"Fine," I said, much to Max's delight.

"_Excellent_!" She said in her bad Scottish accent.

"Just one condition. Promise me you will never, ever use that bad accent for the rest of your short, miserable life," I begged.

"That's the spirit! You're even talking in a tragic voice! Yes, you'll be a fantastic actress for Nurse and the Capulets," she said happily, and then threw a large book at my face. "Now memorize your lines." Max walked off with a too-happy smile to meet Fang at the bus stop. I rolled my eyes after her, hoping that she could somehow hear them. I don't think she did.

"Hey, Ella," I heard my mum's gentle voice calling from the kitchen. I threw the book down on the floor and ran to find out what she needed.

"Yeah?" I asked when I got in there.

"How about we paint your room, and then make some chocolate chip cookies for Max's friends so they'll have a snack when they get here?"

"Cookies? Are they still the homemade ones?" I hadn't had Mum's cookies in years! I loved those things!

"Well, why on earth wouldn't they be?" She had a point with that one. Who would make lame slice'n'bake cookies when homemade ones were an option? Hopefully nobody.

"Yes!" I yelled. "Can we make about a million?"

"Not quite that many, but we'll have to make a lot, because Gazzy and Iggy can hold down more than I can even imagine possible," she laughed.

"Let's get to it!"

**OoOOoO**

Four amazingly blissful hours later, the house smelled like a combination of fresh purple paint (yeah, purple paint smells better than any other color of paint, promise!) and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Long story short, the house smelled like Heaven. I glanced at the clock for probably the millionth time that afternoon, hoping to see that it was two-thirty. For some reason, the clock seemed to be moving its hands backwards because it reads 2:10 right now, and I'm sure it read 2:15 five minutes ago. Darn slow clock.

Then again, the darn slow clock did leave me some time to think, even though it was torture by amazing cookie smell. (Mum wouldn't let me eat them until the Flock got home, which is at 2:30). Was I nervous about meeting six new friends in one day? Yes. Did I study the lines I was supposed to memorize for Max, Fang, and Iggy's iMovie project this afternoon? No. Did I need to study for the iMovie project? Probably. So, with a determined resignation, I made myself read the long (and very boring) Shakespearean lines I needed to memorize. This fake mustache I get to wear better be worth it.

"Ella? Wow. My Scottish accent must be really bad if you're still reading that stuff," Max's voice shook me out of my stupor. I shook my head, trying to shake off the sleepiness that came with reading any form of Shakespeare.

"It is bad," said a new, deeper voice. _Fang_, thought my still-sleepy mind. I heard a dull thud just as I was about to say, "I know, right."

"Sounds like somebody just got punched in the shoulder," I said, trying to keep the smile out of my voice. Yep. Max and Fang were crazy about each other, I could tell already. I finally looked up from _Romeo and Juliet_ to see Max and a most gorgeous boy standing beside of her. Double yep. They even _look_ good together. Max hadn't done him justice whenever she was describing what he looked like to me; he was way cuter than she had let on.

"So you're Fang?" I questioned. Fang just nodded. I got the feeling that he didn't talk much, and found out I was right when Max mouthed "He doesn't talk much" from behind him.

"Shut up, Max. I'm not a talkative person," he said, turning around to look at her. _Whoa! How did he see that?_

"I know, Mr. I Have Eyes In The Back Of My Head," she said, starting to back away from him. I was utterly confused until he started to tickle her, which started a massive tickle fight between the two of them. It didn't even end whenever the oven beeped, signaling that the cookies were finally done. Yeah, they totally like each other. I should do something about that.

"Oh, yes! COOKIES! Thank you, Dr. M. Oh, hey Max, I haven't seen you since this morning. Whoa, is that your sister? She's really pretty! Hey, it's Ella, right? Yeah, it is, 'cause that's what Max told us. Did you know that Jesus loves you? Okay, can somebody please get the cookies-_oomph_." The beautiful girl with chocolate colored skin was forced to stop talking when a hand covered her mouth. I just gaped at her, wondering how she said all of that without even pausing for a breath.

"Nudge. Breathe a little between sentences, please," said a guy with blonde hair. He had the smallest traces of soot on his hands, and very mischievous looking eyes.

"Right, Gaz. Breathing is a good thing," Nudge said, smiling at me. "I'm Nudge, and this sooty-handed fella over here is Gazzy." Gazzy smiled at me and wiggled his eyebrows, making me wonder if he was up to something.

"Why do you have soot on your hands?" I asked.

"Me and Iggy made a stink bomb. I'm still trying to figure out where to set it off, though. Should it be on the track so we won't have to run in PE, or the teachers lounge?"

"Oh, definitely the teachers lounge. Maybe the teachers will be so repulsed by the smell that they'll forget to assign us homework," I said thoughtfully.

"That's what Iggy said! Only he didn't say it in a British accent like you. Are you British?" he asked. I laughed. Do all American people want to have British accents? Personally, I always thought American accents were pretty cool.

"I was born here, but I've lived in London for the past four years."

"Do you know where Hogwarts is?" He looked very excited.

"Uh, is anybody going to get the cookies?" a shy voice asked. It came from behind Gazzy, and I looked around him to see the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen in my entire life. She had ultra-blonde hair that fell around her face in soft curls. She was wearing all white, except for the brown combat boots. Her blue eyes stood out on her pale face.

"I'm guessing you're Angel?" I said, still awestruck at how pretty she was.

"Uh-huh. But, seriously, are you gonna get those cookies? They're about to burn," she said knowingly. I nodded. Max had said that Angel always knew stuff; there was hardly any guessing whenever she said something. She was just like that, and always had been. I walked over to the oven, put on some mitts, and pulled the two pans of wonderful smelling cookies out of the oven. There was a mad rush to the cabinet for plates, and soon everybody was sitting and talking happily about their day. They even included me some in their conversations, which made me feel less nervous about school tomorrow. Max had great friends, but one was missing. Iggy. Why was he not here yet?

"Hey Gazzy, where's Iggy? Ella wants to know," said Angel, making my cheeks go a bright red.

"How did you-" I began to say, but Nudge cut me off.

"Angel does that all the time, don't you Angel? And, yeah where is Iggy? If he doesn't come soon, he's gonna miss out on these cookies! And he's the only person that can play Friar, because I don't want to memorize any more lines and it's partly his project anyway, and-" Nudge was cut off by Gazzy pressing his hand over her mouth…again.

"Nudge? Breathing?" he reminded her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. "

"He's getting his new computer today, so my mom is driving him to the post office pick it up. He should be here in a few minutes, though," Gazzy said. I quickly shoved more cookie in my mouth so I wouldn't have to say anything else.

"You guys better have saved me some cookies, otherwise this stink bomb will go off, and it won't be pretty," said another new voice. _Iggy_, I thought, and sure enough, in walked the boy that I had dreamed about on the plane. Even though I knew this was coming from Max's description of him, I still couldn't keep the shock off of my face. He was the boy from my dream, literally.

"H-Hi," I stuttered. I scolded myself for stuttering, but thankfully, nobody noticed. I guess they thought it was because I had a mouthful of cookie. I looked at Iggy again, comparing him to the dream-Iggy. Yep. Same cloudy eyes, same height, same blonde hair, same muscle. (Okay, yes, Iggy is cute.) The only thing that was different about him, (except for the absence of wings, of course), was the fact that he was as stiff as a board. His face had completely drained of color whenever I had spoken.

"Hi," said Iggy in a bored voice, like he'd rather be anyplace but here. Surprisingly, that hurt. A lot. I don't know, I guess I was expecting him to be all happy and carefree like he was in my dream, not like this. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a five-way glance happen between Max, Fang, Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel.

"What's wrong with him?" Fang mouthed towards Gazzy.

Gazzy shrugged looking completely clueless. He turned to me and mouthed, "He's not usually like this." I just nodded; I didn't know what to say back.

"_So_, Igs, did you bring the camera?" asked Fang, changing the subject. "Thanks," I mouthed at him. He nodded back at me.

"Yup, got the camera, got the costumes, got the fake mustache, got Jesus, and I don't got cookies," he said.

"Or correct grammar," said Gazzy, already on his fifth cookie. Iggy rolled his eyes in the direction Gazzy's voice had come from.

"So, who wants to film a Romeo and Juliet iMovie?" asked Max, looking around at all of us.

"Why not?" we chorused, then looked at each other and started laughing.

**A/N: I might get another chapter up here in a few minutes, because I'm just so pumped for this fic! And I'm really, **_**really**_** excited to write some of the later chapters. **


	5. Chapter 5 (Ella):

**A/N: Here's a new chapter! :D Bear with me, this is the last "getting started" chapter; past this point, the interesting stuff is going to start happening, Also, do you guys think I should pair Gazzy and Nudge together? Or make them like other people from their school? (Max, Fang, Iggy, and Ella are in 12****th**** grade, Gazzy and Nudge are in 10****th****, and Angel is in 7****th****.) PM me your answers, or just say what you want in the reviews (: Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, **_**Romeo and Juliet**_**, **_**Tangled,**_** or any of the bands/songs I may mention in this chapter. I also don't own the brand Sharpie, but I do own a sharpie. **

I love iMovies. Especially wild and crazy ones like the one we just made. Sure, it took us a couple of hours to film it, and another full hour for Iggy to edit it, but this could quite possibly be the best project known to man.

Our cast list was probably the funniest, because for some reason, I was playing mostly guys, and Gazzy was playing mostly girls. I couldn't get my voice to go deep enough, and his was too deep. We couldn't stop laughing throughout the entire project, but in the end, it turned out way better than expected. We even had sword fights in it! Okay, we used those foam swords from Wal-Mart (courtesy of Nudge) but they were still epic. You know what was even more epic? Fang kissed Max! Sure, it was for a project and it lasted like half of a second, but they still kissed. It was so cute! And now, we get to tease them mercilessly about it. Hehe, I think I'm going to like going to school here, even if I miss my old friends.

Everybody but Fang left about thirty minutes ago saying that they had homework to do and that they hoped they had a few classes with me. I hoped I had a few classes with them, too.

"So, how come her hair got that long? She's only seventeen, right?" Fang was asking. Oh yeah, we were watching Tangled! It's the best movie ever, in case you readers have never seen it.

_Back-story time_!

So, there's this baby princess who's blonde hair is magical; if you sing a special song it can heal you, help you, make you younger, etc. But, if you cut it, it turns brown and dies. This lady named Gothel (she's really selfish and evil and stuff) kidnaps Rapunzel from her nice, loving family and hides her away in a tower so she can keep herself young. In memory of their lost daughter, the king and queen send up all of these lanterns and Rapunzel has always dreamed of seeing them, so one day, when the kingdom thief escapes into her tower, she gets the chance. She goes on a really funny adventure to see the lantern, and of course, falls in love, finds her parents, cuts her hair, and Gothel dies.

_End of back-story time_!

"I dunno, Fang. It's just like that!" Max said, her eyes never leaving the TV screen.

"Yeah, but-" Fang was cut of by Max putting her hand over his mouth. Is that a common way to get people to shut up around here?

"Hey, guys?" I asked. Reluctantly, they looked away from the TV to me.

"Yeah?" They asked simultaneously.

"I'm nervous about school," I pretty much whispered. I know I shouldn't be nervous; I've already made friends! But still, tomorrow was my first day, and it's a little intimidating, even if tomorrow is a half-day Friday.

Fang raised his eyebrows at me. "Why are you nervous? You've already made friends, and trust me, Iggy isn't usually that unpleasant."

"Yeah, why was he like that? He got all stiff whenever you talked," Max wondered out loud. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Did I do anything to offend him?"

"Uh, no. Pretty much nothing offends Iggy, except for when people bully Angel, which is unfortunately a lot," Fang assured me. Well, huh. I'd just have to pray and hope that Iggy's moodiness towards me wore off in the future. Hopefully, it would wear off by like, tomorrow. That would be awesome.

"People bully Angel? Why? She's cool," I said.

"She won't tell us what they say, so we're just as in the dark about it as you are. The only person that knows is Gazzy, but that's because they ride the same bus. And because he's her brother," Max added as an afterthought.

"That's weird, but I guess that's people nowadays, isn't it?" I mused. Fang nodded while Max sat silently, contemplating some secret thought. Maybe she was thinking about how close she was sitting to Fang. Yes, I was officially going to have to figure out some way to do that, but I don't know how. I'll have to enlist the rest of the Flock as my allies, though, because I can't do it alone. I smiled as a plan began to form in my little British-American mind. Mwahaha!

"Uh, Ella? Why did you just laugh? Flynn –Eugene, whatever- got tied to a boat by the evil twins with sideburns that are too long," Max said, looking at me like I'd gone a bit mental.

"Those sideburns are so long that I just can't help laughing," I invented, laughing some more. It's true, though! Those twins need to shave desperately.

**OoOOoO**

_Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! __**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! **__**BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEP!**_

"OH MY GOSH, SHUT UP YOU OBNOXIOUS ALARM CLOCK!" I shouted, reaching my hand out to slap the snooze button. As you can probably imagine, I nearly jumped out of my skin whenever my hand hit a face instead of a clock. I peeped my head out from under the covers, startled whenever I saw Max standing there, holding her stomach because she was laughing so hard.

"What? That was you?" I asked, confused.

"Yep," she said with a cheeky smile. "Don't I make an excellent alarm clock?"

"Uhh, no. You don't have a snooze button," I grumbled.

"That's the idea, dear sister," Max said with a glowing smile. I raised an eyebrow at her. It's not right for her to be so awake at this time.

"What time is it?" I asked as I got out of bed and stretched, trying to find a pair of jeans and that shirt that I had picked out last night. I think my clothes hide from me during the night.

"7:15," Max said, casually pulling a string from her sweater.

"What?! Noo! You must help me! Uhh, grab those shoes and set them beside my bag, and I have to go brush my teeth, and pray, and…" I ran off to go to the million things I have to do every morning. Thankfully, Mum already had some bacon and hot chocolate made for me (I love my mum, she's fantastic) and all of my papers were signed, so I didn't have to do them now.

Somehow, we managed to make it to the bus stop by 7:45 with our teeth brushed, hair combed, and clothes on. Fang was already here with Angel waiting on us, and once he saw Max, his eyes lit up and –get this- he actually smiled. Ahh! It's so obvious that they like each other! Why don't they do something about it, and more importantly, does the Flock know about it?

"Yes, Ella, we know that they like each other, the problem is that _they_ don't know they like each other," Angel whispered into my ear with her quiet, calming voice.

"We need to do something about it," I whispered back. She nodded.

"Gazzy and I have tried for a while, but we really need somebody that's with her all the time, because I can't do all of the spying," she said.

"Well, I can do that. I'll have to talk to Gazzy about it later," I said. She smiled at me, and then pointed at Fang wordlessly. He was staring at us suspiciously, and I could tell he wanted to know what we were talking about. I cleared my throat and straightened up, waving a hello to Gazzy.

"Ey, girl!" he cried, doing one of those head nods that said Yeah, I'm totally checking you out. I rolled my eyes at him. Yesterday, I had learned that Gazzy liked to mess with people like that, but it was fine with me because I knew that he was kidding.

"Ey!" I called back, nodding my head too. I saw the bus pull up with a loud _skkssh_ behind him.

The bus driver opened the doors and shouted "All aboard!" I tried to keep from laughing, but I just couldn't help it. Everybody here was so weird! And the bus driver had like, three missing teeth. _Americans_, I thought, shaking my head.

"Ooh, a NEWBIE!" he shouted when I stepped shyly aboard the bus behind Angel.

"My first day," I said, trying to keep my voice confident. Miraculously, it did sound confident. Yess!

"A British newbie?" he asked, suddenly very curious.

"Yeah, I moved back here from London a few days ago. Max is my half-sister," I explained, jerking my thumb towards Max.

"Ah, that explains it. I don't see any family resemblance at all, though. Anyway, welcome to McDowell, don't let people get you down, be yourself and don't be ashamed, and call me Bill," he said in a rush, holding out his hand for me to shake. I did, and the five of us moved straight to the back. I sat with Gazzy, who gave me a very detailed verbal tour of McDowell High, complete with best make-out spots.

"And you would know this because…?"

"A guy knows what a guy knows," he had answered solemnly, putting a hand on my shoulder. I said it once, and I'll say it again. _Americans!_

**OoOOoO**

"Okay, tell me what classes I have with you guys," I called when saw the rest of the Flock. They were all sitting and talking in the cafeteria, and they all seemed pretty excited to see us. We all said bye to Angel –she had to walk to the middle school- and Nudge pulled out a sharpie.

"Write your name beside the classes you have with her. I probably won't have any with you, as I'm in tenth grade. You may have science with Gazzy though, he's like, super smart and takes Senior science. Hey, that sounded cool, senior science," she said all at once. I didn't really know how to reply to her rant, so I just nodded and smiled. Works every time.

After my schedule had been handed out to the whole Flock, I got to see which classes I had with people, and which ones I had to suffer through alone. I looked down at the schedule, which now had sharpie marks all over it. I had British Lit (that was going to be such an easy class) and Civics with Max and Fang, Maths and Home Ec with Iggy (that was going to be awkward) and Science with both Gazzy and Iggy (that would be fun, considering both of them are prone to blowing things up).

"_Thank you, God for letting my friends be in all of my classes. I knew You had a plan for my first day here_." I prayed silently.

BEEP! The bell rang and scared everybody half to death. There was a mad rush to get out of the cafeteria, and we were the smart ones. We waited until after everybody had left the cafeteria so none of us got trampled.

"Come on Sis, the classroom is this way," Max said, beckoning for me to follow her.

"Yeah, coming," I said, and was starting in that direction when I heard my name being whispered.

"Ella, come here," a voice said from behind me. I knew who it was before I turned around to look, and sure enough, Iggy was standing there, his sightless blue eyes resting on a spot somewhere to my right.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up," I called after Max and Fang. Fang caught my eye, glanced at Iggy, and nodded.

"Thank you," I mouthed, and then turned around to Iggy. "Yeah?"

"About yesterday; I didn't mean to sound so mean. I guess your voice kind of surprised me 'cause it's…well…different sounding, and I wasn't expecting it. Plus, I don't know what you look like, so I have to sort of piece a picture together using only your voice and the other sounds you make," he said, looking sheepish. I smiled, but then remembered that he couldn't see it.

"I'm smiling, just so you know, and I can help you make a picture of me, if you want," I said, sounding –and feeling- shy all of a sudden. Iggy flashed me a smile, and I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.

"Yeah, I would love that," he said, and started to walk off to his class. I turned around way to fast, and started walking –also way too fast- and slammed my head straight into a locker.

"Ow," I muttered, hoping nobody had heard that little incident. Unfortunately, I heard a laugh that I knew to be Iggy's coming from a class down the corridor. "Way to go, Ella," I thought, and stalked off to British Lit.

**A/N: Don't forget to share your opinions on whether I should pair Gazzy and Nudge together!**


	6. Chapter 6 (Iggy):

**A/N: This one's in Iggy's POV! I'm so excited to write this one! I found this amazing Bible verse the other day, and I thought I'd share it. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see." I love it! **

**Please review and make my day!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the bands/songs/song lyrics I may mention in this chapter. **

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Iggy's mom asked, concern written all over her face even though he couldn't see it.

"Yeah Mom, I'll be fine, I promise. You and Dad are gone four nights out of the week, anyways, it's not like this is anything new," Iggy said impatiently, waiting for them to leave. He loved his parents, he really did, but ever since the Incident as he liked to call it, they had been way overprotective.

"Are you sure?" she asked, sounding very reluctant to leave him at home.

"Mom! You weren't this reluctant to leave me here when it was my first night alone, and that was three years ago. Just know that Jesus will take care of me when I'm here by myself, and go to work," Iggy said.

"Okay, you're right, I'm just a mom that worries about her son when he's alone at night," his mom said, giving Iggy a hug. "Lock the doors, don't let any strangers in, eat what I've left out for you, and say goodbye to your dad."

Iggy turned around to where he knew his father was standing; he had heard footsteps come up behind him a few minutes ago.

"Bye dad," he said with a smile. His father worried much less about him on the nights that both him and his wife had to work. He was more comfortable with the idea of leaving their blind seventeen-year-old son alone four nights a week than his wife was.

"By James," he said. Iggy's parents never called him Iggy. It was always James, never anything else.

"See ya," he said, and then laughed at the irony of that statement. He would never see his parents ever again. Now, don't go about thinking that Iggy completely hates what happened to him and he pities himself all day long because he'll never be able to see again. Sure, it gets annoying at times, like in the movies or something, but being blind had its perks. Like, Iggy got to form his own opinion on people without judging them on their looks, which was pretty cool. His hearing also became a lot better after he became blind, like it was over-compensating for the loss of his sight. Like this morning after he had said bye to Ella and she ran into that locker. He was in a loud classroom all the way down the hall and he still heard it. Yeah, he probably got some strange looks when he suddenly started laughing, but Iggy didn't care. He could just imagine Ella's face whenever she hit that locker. Or, his version of her face anyways. She had promised to tell him what she looked like, but she hadn't gotten the chance all day because of all the work the teachers assigned them, and because her and Gazzy wouldn't shut up in science about the Fax Project.

The Fax Project was originally Iggy's idea, but Gazzy had a lot of the credit for it too. See, one day after school, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel had been sitting on a bench watching the McBrackett twins (really popular, really annoying girls named Kassie and Karly) argue about something. (Or in Iggy's case, _hear_ them arguing about something.) Angel had poked Gazzy in the stomach and whispered something about Fang saying something to Max. Gazzy had then poked Iggy in the stomach and told him what Angel had whispered.

"Angel found something that Fang wrote on a piece of paper that he threw away, and do you know what it said?" Iggy had shaken his head impatiently, wanting Gazzy to go on with the story. "It said that he wished Max could see what was right in front of her. Dude, he totally likes her!"

"Do you realize how much you just sounded like a girl?" Iggy had said, imagining the look of horror that was appearing on Gazzy's face at that moment.

"I just rolled my eyes, Iggy. Anyways, we seriously need to get them together, because I'm tired of knowing that they like each other without being able to do anything about it."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Iggy had asked.

And so, the Fax project was born. Had they done much with the Fax project? No, but now that Ella said she would help, things may get a little easier. Max and Fang will get together before the end of the year! Or so Iggy hoped.

Ella. She was really something else, wasn't she? Iggy had totally blown the "Make a good first impression!" thing whenever he said "Hi" to her that first time a couple days ago. Why _had_ he talked to her like that? He had also ignored her for the rest of the project, except for when she offered him another cookie. Iggy had said yes to that before she could even finish her sentence, which may have seemed like he didn't want to talk to her.

"Jeez, girls are so confusing," Iggy whispered to himself as he walked blindly to the kitchen and started serving himself some food. He had gotten pretty good at navigating around without sight given that he had been blind for ten years. He had almost forgotten what it was like to see.

He ate his food in silence, thinking about this and that, wondering if Ella had finished her math homework yet, thinking of asking for tickets to a Flyleaf concert because they were coming to Phoenix in a month or something like that. Iggy thought they were a great band, but he mainly wanted to hear Lacey's testimony. **(A/N: If you guys have never heard Lacey Sturm's testimony, I highly recommend looking it up. It's amazing how God has worked in her life). **He wondered if Ella would want to go. Then he laughed at himself because he was thinking of her so much. He wished that he knew what she _looked_ like. Ugh. Life was so complicated sometimes. Iggy decided to get his mind off of Ella, and onto something less complicated. Like soccer!

Soccer is simple. There's a lot of complicated –but fun- moves to it, but the concept of the game is very easy to grasp. Iggy loved soccer; he was good at it. He didn't really know how he was good at it, but the coach said his passes never failed to make their mark. He even made a pretty good goalie because he could hear the ball coming way before it came close to the net. The only thing he didn't like about soccer was Dylan. Dylan always talked to Iggy like he was slow (if you catch my drift) and like he didn't know anything at all. It was kind of annoying. Dylan was an okay person, it was just how he treated Iggy that was annoying. Iggy wanted to tell somebody, but he was afraid they might laugh at him. He couldn't tell Max because who knows what she would do to Dylan, he couldn't tell Fang because…well…because Fang didn't really like Dylan all that much. He tried to get along with him, but it was hard because –even though Fang wouldn't admit it- they both like Max. Iggy couldn't tell Nudge because she'd go and talk Dylan's ears off, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Angel probably already knew about it because she's cool like that, and telling Gazzy is just out of the question. Iggy knew exactly what Gazzy would say, and it would go something like this.

Iggy: "Dude, why does Dylan talk to me like I'm slow?"

Gazzy: "Have you ever considered the possibility that you _are_ slow? I mean, you aren't the most in shape person ever."

Then there would be a thud because Iggy would punch Gazzy wherever his hand hit. If it were his shoulder, fine. If it were his face, it would also be fine.

Iggy: "You know what I mean."

Gazzy: "Well, I don't know. Have you told Max? Don't tell Fang, though. He might hurt him."

Yep. Iggy was just that good. He was also very sweaty, and a shower suddenly seemed very appealing. He shoved his plate into the sink, heard the _clank_ as it hit the other plates that were piled in there, and made his way to the shower, narrowly missing the refrigerator. Darn fridge.

**OoOOoO**

The hot water had felt awesome on Iggy's sweaty skin. It made him feel sleepy, so he decided to skip out on homework and just go straight to bed. Obviously, his brain had other ideas, because as soon as he had finished praying, it wouldn't stop wailing that song about lights. _"YOU SHOW THE LIGHTS THAT STOP ME, TURN TO STOOOOONE," _Iggy may just have to kill that part of his brain if he wanted to make it to sleep anytime soon. After about five more minutes of pop torture, he decided to do what he did most nights his parents had to work. He climbed down from his bed, –Iggy had a loft bed. He had gotten in a couple years ago because he loved the feeling of being in the air- grabbed his pillow and a sleeping bag, and went outside into the somewhat cool Arizona air.

This had become a habit for Iggy because he always had sleeping problems. It wasn't exactly insomnia, but he was just afraid that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, which ended up keeping him from falling asleep. It was a complicated little cycle. Anyways, Iggy loved sleeping outside. He would lay there and try to remember the constellations his mom had taught him before he became blind. He tried not to think about how he became blind, because if he did, he always had nightmares of how it happened. He preferred to think about happy things like Jesus. And Ella. He did a great deal of thinking about Ella that night. How she smelled, how she talked, even how he imagined she looked. There was just something about her, something he just couldn't figure out.

He wanted to figure it out.

**OoOOoO**

That night, Iggy had a dream. He felt like he had had it before, but he wasn't sure. He was standing on these rocks that were really slick because there was a waterfall running down them. He knew that the place must be beautiful, judging from the warm, tropical sounds that were all around him. He also knew that there was a small, deep lake right below him.

"Iggy!" Ella Martinez's voice called from below him. Was she in the lake?

"Hey, Ella! Watch this!" Iggy had said the words without realizing it. Before he knew what he was doing, he took a huge leap and did a couple flips before falling smoothly into the water. He surfaced in a few seconds and felt Ella's body beside of him.

"Oh, yeah! The blind kid can do legit dives!" Once again, Iggy had spoken before he realized it. His hand was travelling to his back; he must have landed on feathers or something when he dived, and sure enough, there were feathers on his back. Iggy tried to brush them off, but they were firmly glued to his shoulder blades. Then, some of the feathers _moved_. He was so surprised that he almost jumped out of the lake. The feathers weren't just on his back; they were a part of his back.

Iggy had wings.

**A/N: In reply to ****IggyRideAngelGrl's review, I think I'm going to do something like that, but you'll just have to read it and find out! Also, I actually like the song Lights. It's a guilty pleasure. (:**


	7. Chapter 7 (Ella):

**A/N: Good news! I got a cover up for this fic :D I got it off of Google, just in case you guys wanna know. Well, here's chapter 7! **

**Please Review! And I need opinions on Nudge and Gazzy! (:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the songs/bands/lyrics I might mention in this chapter. **

"Aren't you glad that I didn't use my wonderful alarm clock skills on you this morning?" Max was whispering to me from her desk. We were in British Lit and the teacher, Mrs. Biddix, was scribbling some illegible nonsense on the board.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for throwing a teddy bear at my face. I'm so grateful," I hissed back.

"Yeah, I know you are," she said with a smile. Then she backhanded Fang in the face because he tried to tickle her.

"Ow," he said a little bit too loudly.

"No talking, students," Mrs. Biddix said vaguely. I'm guessing she's in her own little world that consists of page after page of English notes that she just can't wait to shove into our brains.

"Yo, shut up, I'm trying to do my makeup. Your talking is ruining my concentration," the girl sitting beside me demanded in a snide voice. I turned to Max and Fang with my eyebrows raised.

"Lissa," Fang said in an ultra-quiet voice that only I could hear. "She's…I don't really know how to describe her, exactly."

"Mmm, yeah, not many people do know how to describe me, Fangy. Do you think Iggy will like my makeup today?" Lissa asked. Okay, somebody obviously had ninja hearing, because _I_ had barely heard what Fang had said, and he was sitting right beside of me.

"Uh, Lissa? In case you hadn't noticed in the past ten years, Iggy's _blind_," Max said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I know. There's just something about the blindness that just makes him all the more sexy," Lissa said. Really? Did she just say that?

"So you're putting makeup on to impress a blind kid?" I asked with emphasis on the "blind kid".

"Well yeah, what does it look like I'm doing?" she asked in a "duh" tone. She had a point, but I did too. Putting makeup on to impress somebody that would never see it. Wow. That's a new one. Fang and Max literally looked like they were about to pop open from holding in laughter, which was enough to get me started, and it was all over from that.

**OoOOoO**

"So, you're telling me that you managed to make a teacher mad on your second day of school? That must be a new record! High five it!" Gazzy said whenever I told him about my interesting second day of British Lit. Mrs. Biddix wasn't too happy with Max, Fang, and me by the time that class ended. It was totally worth it though, because that was hilarious. Lissa just didn't seem to get why she didn't need makeup on.

"Oh, you should've seen Ella's face whenever she said that being blind just made Iggy sexier. She looked like she could've killed somebody! That was why I was laughing; she was jeeaalous!" Max said from across the lunch table.

"_Was not_!" I shrieked, throwing a popcorn kernel at her. Yes, I bring popcorn for lunch. It's a wonderful idea.

"You kind of were," said Fang, the corners of his mouth upturned in a smile. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Who's jealous?" asked Iggy, who had sat down beside of me silently.

"Ella's jealous of Lissa because they both like you," said Angel calmly. I started to choke on my popcorn

"Am _not_!' I said, tears streaming from my eyes.

"Then why are you blushing?" Iggy asked, poking me in the stomach.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't even know I was blushing until you said that," I said, which just made my cheeks go even redder. Iggy shrugged and put a cold finger to my cheek.

"Yep. Blushing. I knew it!" he said triumphantly.

"You cheater! I wasn't blushing until you said that!" Darn cheater blind kid. Even if he was kind of cute whenever he was laughing. Okay, he was really cute whenever he laughed.

Which reminds me! I need to clarify this now, before you readers get any ideas. I, ELLA ALICE MARTINEZ HEREBY STATE THAT I LIKE IGGY GRIFFITHS AS A _FRIEND ONLY. __**FRIEND ONLY!**_

See that word above this sentence? Read it! Read it noooow!

"All students head to their fifth period, all students go to fifth period! That includes you girls that are probably gossiping right now. Yes, go to class NOW!" said a very unpleasant male voice. He just oozed sexism. Oozed it!

"Wow, sexist much?" I asked, trying to change the subject from my "jealousy".

"Who? Mr. Perkins? Yeah, he's just like that. And I wasn't gossiping! I was eating my salad! Does that sound like gossiping to you? No, no it does not. Well, I'm off to English 2, peace out girl scouts!" Nudge said. That girl must have lungs of steel, because in the whole two and a half days that I've known her, she's breathed like twice.

"Does she ever breathe?" I inquired.

"Nope," answered Gazzy, pulling me towards the science class by my book bag straps. Now come _onnn_, I gotta tell you something _imporrtannt_,"

"Gaz, let her go," Iggy said. I narrowed my eyes at him, which was pointless of course.

"I'm seriously starting to doubt your blindness, mister," I said suspiciously. As if to prove that he was in fact blind, Iggy walked right into a pole.

"Huh. Has that pole always been there?" he asked, rubbing his forehead. Gazzy and I were too busy cracking up to answer him.

We made it to science class with no more pole accidents, but Iggy did have a purplish bruise forming on his forehead.

"Well, you ran into that locker last Friday, and you can see! I can't see, so you guys should cut me some slack," Iggy kept saying. We totally weren't going to cut him any slack.

"Um no. No slack for you," I said as we sat down. The science class was really big with lab tables and everything. It looked so different from my old classroom in London. I missed London more than I thought I would. I was even starting to miss Aaron, which is something I never thought I would do.

"Yo, earth to Ella," Gazzy poked me in the shoulder.

"Huh, what?" I looked at Gazzy who was pointing to the board. It said something about a cornstarch lab.

"We're going to do this today because I was lazy last night and didn't write a lesson plan," said the teacher, Mr. Kall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gazzy telling Iggy about the lab. Then they slapped a high five, which made me very suspicious of what they were going to do. I flicked Gazzy and shot him a _don't do anything stupid or I will get Max to kill you_ look. He didn't seem scared in the least, which worried me even more.

"What are you guys gonna do? Is it going to get me expelled?" I asked Iggy after we sent Gazzy off to get the cornstarch and water.

"Oh, don't you worry, this'll be fuun," Iggy said with a crazy smile on his face.

**OoOOoO**

Long story short, Iggy and Gazzy's definition of fun was making a flour bomb, resulting in us covered from head to toe in white dust, one very angry teacher, and a very loud _BOOM_!

"Guuys," I complained, brushing some cornstarch off of me. We had just been sent to the principal's office only to find that he had an emergency conference. We had then been told to go clean up the mess and ourselves, which of course meant skip the rest of class.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" they said in unison. Cornstarch poofed up in clouds around them.

"We look like ghosts," I said, not dropping the subject.

"True, but we are very _attractive _ghosts. There's a difference between attractive ghosts and regular ghosts," Gazzy said, brushing some flour from my hair. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I guess you have a point," I said reluctantly. We got to walk around aimlessly for another few minutes before the bell rang. We all groaned, then trudged off to our different classrooms, which for me and Iggy, was Home Ec.

"Well, at least we already have enough cornstarch," he said, trying to lighten the awkward tension that had formed between us the second Gazzy left for Algebra 2. Ha, poor little guy, stuck in that class for the next hour and twenty minutes.

"Do people even use cornstarch in anything?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, apparently, it's a good ingredient for bombs, so there's something."

"Mwahaha! A cornstarch bomb! Be afraid, be very afraid!"

"Hey, Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that thing that dangles in the back of your throat called?"

"Where did that come from? I think it's called a uvula. Uuuvvuuulaaa," Iggy said, drawing out the word. I couldn't hold my laughter in anymore; I had to laugh.

We walked all the way to the Home Ec room like that, goofing off and talking about how nobody ever knows what a uvula is. That was the only way for Iggy and I to not be awkward around each other. We had to talk about pointless stuff. I wished that we could just get in a normal conversation and get somewhere with each other. I mean, I wanted him to be a good friend because I knew he would be one. He could be so much more than just some guy I talk about uvulas with. Even though that was quite possibly the best conversation ever.

Uvula. Haha!

Much to my surprise, Iggy can actually cook. We had to cook fried chicken, but we couldn't use anything to bread it, so we had to come up with a way to make it flavored. I just stared at the chicken, waiting for some idea to miraculously pop into my head, when Iggy came up with a bottle of Italian dressing.

"Fry the chicken in this stuff. It'll taste awesome."

"You know that's dressing, right?" I asked, a little unsure of him.

"Uh, yeah. Now fry me some chicken, woman!"

Now, if Iggy had said that to Max, she probably would've punched him or something, but the look on his face made it impossible for me to say no, which is why I ended up burning three chicken wings before he rolled his eyes and cooked it himself.

Yes, I was a little reluctant to eat it, but it was actually good. Imagine that.

**A/N: Okay, this is an awful chapter, I know. * ****Shakes head ***** My writing skills just weren't working today, but I'll pray about it, and they'll be back to normal soon! Yay! **


	8. Chapter 8 (Ella):

**A/N: Guess what! (this is where you say WHAT?!) **

*** Trumpet fanfare * I have a new chapter! Woohoo! **

**I would like to thank Skatzaa for the wonderful reviews (: **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the songs/bands/lyrics I might mention in this chapter. **

**And without further ado…**

"Pale face."

"Jeez, have you even seen the sun in your life? Do you even _know_ what the phrase 'Get a tan' means?"

Lissa and Brigid were whispering that as I walked by them on my way to class. I had been going to McDowell High for a couple of months now, and they've been saying stuff like that since my third day here. I didn't really know how to respond to them; none of this happened at my old school in London. In fact, I was pretty popular back there. When people started to find out that my dad had cancer, they started this huge fundraiser to help us pay for his chemo treatments. America is so different.

"Just ignore them, Ells," Nudge said, linking her arm through mine.

"Yeah," I said, not ignoring them. Was I really that pale? Would a tan make me prettier?

"Iggy thinks that you're beautiful, tan or not," Angel said. She has a habit of popping out of nowhere, and then saying the most unexpected things. I'm always like, _how do you know this_?

"Thanks Angel, but I don't think Iggy likes me like that. We're just friends," I explained.

"That's not what he told Gazzy over the phone last night," Angel said casually. Nudge and I looked at each other, wide-eyed. She did not just say that!

"Wha-what are you talking about?" I stuttered, not even bothering to listen to Brigid talk about how ugly pale people were in a loud voice just so I could hear it.

"You didn't know?" Angel asked, her eyes big and innocent.

"No, I didn't know! How long has this been going on?!" I asked, now really excited, although I didn't know why. I only liked Iggy as a friend…I think. Sure, we had gotten pretty close during the last few months, but there was still that unexplained awkwardness between us. I still hadn't figured out what that awkwardness was.

Angel and Nudge just looked at each other, then back to my clueless face. They did this a good five times before…

"Oi! Will you tell me what you're thinking about before I kill you?" I yelled. I heard Brigid say something about how British accents were _so_ overrated from behind me. Lissa laughed loudly.

"So you're telling me that you haven't noticed Iggy is completely crushing on you? Oh come on, Ella! Lissa and Brigid figured it out that day that Iggy and Gazzy set off the cornstarch bomb. That's why they've been talking bad about you for the last two months," Nudge said. Well, she just spit that right out there, didn't she? Iggy likes me? PAUSE! Let's do a rewind; I must say it again. Iggy _likes_ me?

Iggy LIKES me?

"He likes me?" I asked. Great, now I was blushing. Thanks, Nudge.

"Honey, he makes it totally obvious!" she said, shaking her head in disbelief. She looked over at Angel, who just shrugged.

"I thought he was making it obvious too," she said quietly. How did I not know this? Was I completely blind or something?

"What, are you guys talking about Iggy's not-so-secret crush on Ella?" Max asked, coming up behind Angel.

"Am I the only person that knew nothing about this?" I asked, exasperated.

"Well, why else do you think that Lissa hates you? She's liked him for forever," Max explained to me.

"Yeah, once she figured out that she was never going to get me," Fang said, wrapping his arms around Max's waist. Speaking of not-so-obvious crushes, why were they not together yet?

"What's up guys?" Iggy asked, stumbling onto our group. You know, I'm really glad he is blind sometimes. I blush way too much when he's around me. I gave Angel a warning look. If she said anything about crushes, I would personally kill her and her freaky mind reading skills.

"Hey, Iggy! Did you do your math homework last night? Okay, I don't even know if you had math homework, but you should definitely help me with mine because I am _way_ confused on this problem," Nudge said. For once, I was thankful for her mouth. _Now I see why you made Nudge a talker, God. Thank you. _

"Isn't the sky just beautiful today?" asked Iggy, who couldn't even see the sky.

"It's raining, Igs," said Fang, who was actually smiling. Wow. I had only seen Fang smile like four times since I knew him.

"Oh. I knew that," Iggy said, rolling his eyes.

"Uh-huh," Max said, patting Iggy on the shoulder. "But Ella, why don't you say something to Lissa about this. You really aren't that pale." I looked at Lissa, at her red hair falling perfectly. I bit my cheek and shook my head.

"Why not?" Angel asked. Then she looked at Lissa, then me, and then back to Lissa. "Stop comparing yourself to her, Ella. You're two different people, and Jesus made you the way you are."

" Thanks Angel, but still," I said. "I'm gonna go to class now." I walked off, waving to Gazzy on my way. Nudge immediately started talking to the rest of the group, and I could just tell they were coming up with some sort of a plan. Uh-oh.

**OoOOoO**

"So, Ella," Iggy said, laying down flat on our math table, completely covering my work. His sightless eyes blinked innocently up at me.

"Was the chair not good enough for you?" I asked, laughing. Iggy was so strange sometimes –okay, all the time- and now was one of those times.

"Oh, the chair was fine, but I'm more comfortable this way," Iggy said, wiggling his eyebrows. Yep, definitely one of his strange moments.

"Did you want something, or do you just want to lay on my pencil?"

"I wanted to talk to you about this awesome idea Nudge had this morning! See, after you left, Nudge was like 'Hey guys, we should really do something about Ella's self confidence, kind of like the Fax thing that her and Gazzy do, only this can be called the Ella plan.' Then, of course Max and Fang were all 'What's the Fax plan?' and I was like 'MIND YOUR BUSINESS YOU WEIRDOS!' And then we came up with this fantastic plan. Yeah." I just looked at him, not really sure what to say. Iggy had managed to confuse me with that little explanation of his.

"So…you guys…you're gonna do what?" I asked, trying to make sense of what he had just said.

"We. Are. Going. To. Make. Your. Self-Esteem. Go. Up!" Iggy said, pausing between each word. "Did that clear up your confusion?" I nodded, and then remembered that he couldn't see it.

"I just nodded, Iggy."

"Do you remember what Angel said this morning?" he asked, his voice suddenly serious.

"Uh, Angel said a lot of things this morning," I replied. _Please don't let him be talking about the whole crush thing._

"About you being fine the way you are, the way God made you?" _Ohh. Thank you God!_

"Yeah, I remember."

"I can't see your skin, but I know that mine's like, super pale. Who cares what Lissa says about you? She's been doing that to people here for forever. It used to be Max, but Max was like 'Lissa, you are a turd' and that kinda stopped Lissa from saying stuff to her," Iggy said. Lissa used to bully Max? That's weird. I had just assumed that because Max was so confident, she had never been picked on.

"Fang mentioned something about that this morning, but he didn't say much," I remembered.

"Does Fang ever say much?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Good point. He talks way more at my house than he does here, though," I said defensively.

"Yeah 'cause him and Max are in loooove," Iggy said, smiling at some memory.

"Loooove?" I asked. I must figure out this story to tease Max about it later!

"You don't know that story?! Noo! Let me tell you," Iggy said excitedly.

**OoOOoO**

Wow. I can't believe Max actually said that to Fang! I couldn't stop laughing once Iggy had told me the story, which drew attention from the teacher, and we were almost sent to the office for disrespect. It was totally worth it.

See, Max used to have this chip in her arm from when she was really young, and about a year ago, she decided that she really wanted it out. My mum was reluctant to do the surgery because all of Max's nerves and muscles had grown around the chip, but she removed it anyways. The prayers for Max had paid off, because the surgery was a success; Max could still move her arm and there was no more chip inside of her. Yay! The only thing that Max needed was a lot of pain medication, which was her downfall. Mum had given her some Valium, which had this crazy –and hilarious- effect on Max. According to Iggy, Max had thought she was an orphan and had no family at all, a small hill outside of our house became a huge rollercoaster, the band Skillet played guitars that were actually frying pans, she had grown huge wings and was hiding from these wolf-man hybrid thingys called Erasers, and she had admitted that she 'Looooved Fang sooo so much, like as big as Jupiter!' Iggy said he could pretty much hear Fang blushing, which is when the Fax plan became official. Of course, Max was so embarrassed whenever Mum told her what she had said, but she couldn't help but laugh. There was so much teasing potential there, it put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. I even survived the rest of math, which for me was an accomplishment. Algebra 2 wins the title of 'Worst class in the ENTIRE world'. Oh well, I just have the rest of this semester with it.

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I was working on another story for the Avengers, which has quickly risen on my list of 'Most Awesome Movies Ever'. (:**


	9. Chapter 9 (Gazzy):

**A/N: Hi (: How're you guys this fine evening? This one is Gazzy's chapter! Woohoo! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, Google or Bing, or any of the songs/lyrics/bands I might mention in this chapter. **

Gazzy had a plan, and it was desperate to be put in action. Ideas had been swirling around in his head since the chat him and Fang had earlier that morning. They had decided that Iggy and Ella were hopelessly in love with one another, and something simply must be done about it. It was pretty much the same thing as the Fax plan, only this one had a lot more Eggy and a lot less Fax. It was foolproof…sorta. They didn't actually know what they were going to do yet, but they were working on it!

Usually, Gazzy would go to Iggy for help with coming up with these plans, but he couldn't this time, because the plan had to be kept secret from Iggy. That was going to be hard; the guy had the ears of a…something with really good hearing. An elephant! That was it! They have really big ears, so their hearing must be good, or at least, that's what Gazzy figured. He was going to have to Google that when he got home. Yes, Google. Bing is for weenies.

Gazzy needed to talk to Angel. She could be his spy, what with that mind-reading thing she does. Okay, she doesn't _really_ read minds, but she came pretty darn close. It was just one of those things that she was blessed with. _Now, what class is she in? Math maybe?_

As it turns out, Angel was in math class, and she was more than excited when Gazzy asked her teacher for permission to talk to her. Yes, the Eggy plan is way more important than math. It's a known fact.

"One of Ella's classes is in the middle school auditorium, so I can talk to her then. It's during my lunch period." Angel said that before Gazzy could even utter a word.

"How did you know I was going to ask you that?" asked Gazzy, shaking his head in disbelief. Angel was something else.

"I dunno," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I just did."

"So, you can do it? 100% sure?"

"Yeah!" Angel said excitedly.

"YES!" yelled Gazzy, slapping her a high five. Now, he was off to PE, where he would hopefully kick butt at soccer.

**OoOOoO**

"Is the plan in action?" Fang asked Gazzy at lunch, keeping his voice low.

"Yup, I have Angel on her next period," Gazzy answered, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He loved coming up with all of these plans, it made him feel all sneaky.

"Excellent! What should we do about Iggy?" Fang glanced around the cafeteria, searching for Iggy. He hadn't shown up for lunch yet, which was weird. They half expected him to be hiding behind a vending machine or something, eavesdropping on their plans. It wouldn't be the first time he'd done that.

"What do you mean? Like, tell him that he's madly in love with Ella and he needs to tell her before she moves on and finds somebody else and the world ends and everybody CRIES**?" **Gazzy asked, a little out of breath. He was beginning to sound like Nudge. Oh, no.

"Slow down there, Nudge," Fang said, which only proved Gazzy's point. He _was _turning into Nudge; even Fang thought so! And Fang never says anything except to Max. He talks to Max a lot, but it's only because he likes her. Which reminded him, he needed to work on them. Hmm.

"I think we need to make him realize that he likes Ella. The only question is, how do we do that?" Well, Fang was just being talkative today, wasn't he?

"I think so, too. But you know Iggy, and you also know that he won't believe us until he sees it himself, which is a challenge considering he's blind," Gazzy said.

"Well then, we'll make him hear it or something," Fang said.

"Hear what?" Iggy asked, popping –he had been doing that a whole lot lately- out of nowhere.

"This!" Gazzy shouted, flicking mashed potatoes at Iggy's face with his spoon. _Splat._ They landed right on his nose, and Gazzy had to fight the laughter rising in him. Ha! Iggy's face was priceless.

"Oh I heard it, all right. And I'm gonna hear it again when it's all over you!" Iggy said, wiping the potato off of his nose. He picked a spoon up and filled it with mashed potatoes, only he didn't flick it in Gazzy's face. He smashed the spoon right in his hair.

"Oh! Not fair! Not fair at all! I didn't target your hair, I targeted your nose!" Gazzy said, attempting to get the mashed potato out of his hair. He was only making it worse.

"Dude, I can't see. It was only convenient for me that they happened to land in your hair," Iggy said, sniggering.

"I don't know, I think you knew exactly where they would land," said Ella, who also popped out of nowhere. She was dragging Max behind her, much to Fang's excitement.

"Did not! They flew of their own accord into Gazzy's hair, which was a bonus point for me," Iggy said, hugging Ella as a greeting. Were they _blushing_? Why yes, yes they were. The Eggy plan needed to be put into action, pronto.

"Flew of their own accord? You flicked them at me!" Gazzy said, his hand edging towards the spoon.

"Oh. Yeah, that detail slipped my mind for a short period of three seconds. Thank you for reminding me," Iggy said, pulling a large bit of potato out of Gazzy's hair.

"Anytime," Gazzy said. He rose from his seat, grabbed his things, and went to the bathroom to adjust his hair. Euuh. Mashed potato was smeared everywhere. Gazzy grabbed a few paper towels, wet them, and started depotatofying his hair. It took a little longer than expected, so he missed most of his next class –which was math- but that was fine with Gazzy. It left him to do some thinking.

It seemed like everybody was falling for someone. Max and Fang, Iggy and Ella; that was four of Gazzy's best friends. He felt like the odd one out, and he didn't like that. But, he also didn't know if he was really ready for a relationship. He enjoyed being single, and in all honesty, he didn't know how exactly to act around girls. Sure, he could joke around with like, Nudge or someone, but she didn't count as a girl. Nudge was too much of a friend, wasn't she? Was there ever going to be a girl that he got all nervous around? Was he ever going to blush like Ella just did when Iggy gave her that hug? Were the other members of the flock ever going to form a secret plan involving Gazzy and whoever he liked? Ugh. Gazzy didn't like having all these questions in his head all the time, but that had been happening a lot lately. He knew that God had a plan for him, and that he just needed to be patient and wait, but sometimes –like now- waiting was hard.

"Dude." Iggy stuck his head in the bathroom, his eyes staring straight ahead. "Where are you?"

"What do you mean?" Gazzy asked, confused. He had only been in here for a few minutes, right?

"Science is about to start," Iggy said, turning his face in Gazzy's general direction.

"What? I missed math? How…" Gazzy trailed off. Had he really been in here thinking about his single status for an hour and fifteen minutes? Weird.

"I think it's the mashed potatoes. They've melted your brain and left it for aliens to eat, which is bad, because we have to do some lab on the DNA of strawberries. Ella's completely lost, and I need you to tell me where to put everything," Iggy said in a rush, nearly slipping in a puddle of soap as he made his way to Gazzy.

"Okay, I'll be in there in a sec, just hang on," Gazzy sighed, throwing away the paper towels.

"What's wrong?" Iggy asked. Darn blind kid. He could sense feelings almost as well as he could hear.

"Nothing," Gazzy said. He wanted to tell Iggy, but he couldn't because he might give away the Eggy plan. The Eggy plan must remain a secret!

"Tell me later?"

"Yep," Gazzy promised. He would tell him later, but first, he would have to think of a way to explain it without revealing the plan.

"Sweet! Let's go dissect some strawberries, shall we?"

"Why not!"

**OoOOoO**

"GUYS! GET YOUR BEHINDS OVER HERE!" Gazzy shouted, staring at his computer screen.

"What?" Max asked, peering over Gazzy's shoulder. "Whoa! No way! In two weeks?"

"YES!"

"Will somebody please tell me what the computer says?" Iggy asked impatiently.

"Flyleaf concert!" Gazzy whooped, dancing around like a nutso.

"Really? Where?" Ella asked, trying to steal the computer from Fang.

"Two weeks from now at the Banana peel! Do you think we could go? Like, maybe you guys could stay over at my house the night before? And we could all swim in my pool? Yes!" Nudge rambled, running around in very small, very tight circles. She was a little odd when excited.

"We must go!" said Gazzy, looking around at the various excited faces of the flock.

"Yes!" they chorused.

"Nudge, do you think we could stay over at your house the night before?" Angel asked timidly.

"What? Oh yeah, definitely. My mom's dying to meet Ella, and I've already had the rest of you over, so she won't care at all," Nudge said, stopping in mid-circle.

"I'll drive," Max volunteered, slapping Nudge a high-five.

"Are we gonna do this, or not?" Iggy asked, looking excited himself.

"We better!" the Flock yelled simultaneously.

**A/N: If you guys have never heard of Flyleaf, look them up! They're amaaaaaazing. And, their singer has a wonderfully awesome testimony! You shan't be disappointed! :D **

**Review!**


	10. Chapter 10 (Ella and Fang at the end):

**A/N: I have been so excited to write this chapter ever since I started this story, and it's finally here! YES! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the songs/bands/song lyrics/movies I may mention. (:**

Nudge had a large house, no, large didn't really do it justice. She had a huge house, complete with a clubhouse/barn, saltwater pool, two hot tubs, and a fire pit perfect for making s'mores. I was almost more excited to go to her house and stay than I was to go to the concert.

"And here's my room. You guys can just throw your stuff down here if you want," Nudge said apprehensively, looking at me. "Do you like everything, Ella?"

"Absolutely!" I said, throwing my bag down and flopping on her bed. "This is awesome, Nudge!" Gazzy decided he had had enough of standing and laid down right on top of me.

"You make a nice pillow, Ella," he said, settling right down.

"Gettoff," I said, my voice muffled because a large part of his shirt was in my mouth.

"Can we make s'mores?" Angel asked, pointing through a floor-to-ceiling window to the fire pit outside.

"I call starting the fire!" Iggy and Gazzy said in unison. They immediately gave each other a stare down –well, kind of- and raced each other outside. We followed them, with Nudge taking the lead. She was strangely silent today, like she had a lot on her mind. I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

**OoOOoO**

Making s'mores with the flock was quite an adventure. For one, Gazzy's marshmallows kept committing suicide and falling off of his stick into the flames, all of Iggy's turned out perfectly because he's just weird like that, and we played never have I ever, which Angel won. We were going to play chicken in Nudge's pool, but the water was freezing, so we ended up piling into the hot tubs and scooting the fire pit near them. We talked of many things, mostly consisting of the Flyleaf concert, but there was some talk about which class was worse: British Lit, or Algebra 2. (Obviously, it's Algebra 2. I mean, when am I going to _need_ rational and real roots? And that whole parenthesis/bracket thing? Yeah, I'm lost there. Ugh.)

Sometime around eleven, Nudge insisted that we all go inside the barn and figure out who was sleeping where, and argue about which movies we were going to watch. I had wondered why Nudge said, "argue" about the movies, but I quickly figured it out. Nudge had about eight million and four DVD's, and her and Angel only wanted to watch chick flicks, while Gazzy, Iggy, Max, Fang, and I would watch anything but. Well, I didn't want to watch any horror movies because I wasn't in the lets-get-scared-and-have-nightmares! kind of mood. In the end, we decided for a compromise. We went with _The Avengers_, just for the pure awesomeness of it, and _Snow White and the Huntsman_, because that's close enough to a chick flick, even if the queen is creepy.

After our short little movie marathon, with Gazzy "falling in love" with Scarlett Johansson, Nudge determined that Clint and Natasha should be together, and Angel shyly saying, "Chris Hemsworth is kind of cute." Needless to say, it was a very entertaining marathon. We even had popcorn and apple juice! Woohoo!

Max and Fang got up, pulled out a large sheet of paper, and started drawing rectangles on it.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, completely clueless.

"Drawing our sleeping arrangements," Fang murmured, not looking up from the paper.

"Nudge and Angel could sleep on the couch because both sides recline, Gazzy can have that chair, and um, I could sleep on those beanbags. Fang, you get the chair beside Gazzy, Iggy gets the futon, and Ella gets that huge window seat?" Max asked, studying our faces. I looked at the huge window and decided that it was stalker-free.

"Sounds good to me," I said, walking over to the window.

"Trade with meeee," Gazzy pleaded to Iggy.

"My sleeping bag is already there, though," Iggy protested. Gazzy whispered something in Iggy's ear, and I saw his eyes light up.

"Fine, the futon's yours," he said, picking up his sleeping back and hurling it at a cushy chair. Nudge giggled and rolled her eyes, which made me really want to know what they were talking about. Darn whisperers.

We settled in, which is code for turning off the lights, having a massive pillow fight, and talking about random things until, one by one, we all fell asleep.

Except for me. I couldn't fall asleep because I had this feeling in my chest that something was going to happen, but I didn't know what. I prayed about it and tried to shake it off, but it just wouldn't go away. I was restless, but I couldn't toss and turn out of fear I would wake everybody up. Finally, after about an hour, I decided to just get in the hot tub. The night sky and warm water would hopefully relax me.

Quietly, I slipped out of my sleeping bag and sneaked out of the barn. I had just left my swimsuit on whenever we got out of the tubs earlier so the fire could dry it. The full moon shone brightly above me as I turned on the hot tub, steam tendrils rising into the atmosphere. I slid into the water, which felt soothing, and looked up at the night sky. There were so many stars here; the sky seemed endless. Back in London, we never saw any stars, because of light pollution. I was so entranced by the view that I didn't notice when somebody else came out here until I heard the faint _splash_ that told me somebody else was in the hot tub.

Would you believe me if I said it was a ghost? Ha! Gotcha! So, it wasn't a ghost, thank goodness, but it _was_ an Iggy.

"Sleeping troubles?" he asked, situating himself very close to me. I got a little bit nervous, and it kind of felt like my stomach had decided to pack up and move to my chest. I'm also pretty sure my heart skipped a couple beats. I started focusing on random details about him: his messy blonde hair, his sightless blue eyes, his pale skin. Then, I remembered that he asked me a question.

"Y-yeah, how'd you guess?" I stuttered. Wow, Ella. Smooth.

"Because I have them too. I spend more time sleeping outside than I do inside. The air out here calms me down, and I guess it doesn't hurt whenever both of your parents work third shift," he murmured, submerging his head. He stayed underwater for a long time, which made me wonder if he had gills or something. That would be weird.

"Are you alone every night?" I inquired when he came back up. He scoffed.

"Pretty much," he had a bit of a bitter tone, but I didn't let it bother me.

"Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he answered, his mouth twitching into a smile. I splashed water in his face.

"You know what I mean!"

"Go for it," he sighed, going underwater again.

"I can't ask if you're down there," I muttered, poking his head.

"I want to ask you something," he said when he surfaced.

"I thought I was going to ask _you_ something," I said, splashing him again. He splashed me back, and soon I was spluttering and laughing as we started a splash fight.

"Can you tell me what the stars look like?" Iggy asked when things calmed down. He was sitting even closer to me now, and I was having trouble breathing evenly. I'm pretty sure he could hear my heart beating with that hearing of his.

"Uh," I said, turning my head towards the sky. "Well, it's black, and uh, there's stars."

"Oh, thank you captain obvious," he said sarcastically. I felt something cold on my shoulders, and I would've jumped, but the cold thing was Iggy's arm. Oh, goodness. What do I do now? I can't go all stiff, so…so…ahh! I decided I should probably go with the flow and lean into Iggy. Apparently, I had done the right thing, because his arm tightened around me, and all of a sudden, my head was resting on his shoulder. When did that happen?

We stayed like that for a while, just calm breathing and water bubbling. I made no more lame attempts to describe the stars for him, and he didn't ask. That was a good thing, because I don't think my voice would've worked even if I wanted it to. His other arm –the one that wasn't around me- was playing with my hand.

"Ella?" he asked quietly, though his voice sounded loud in the silence.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"What do you look like?" He sounded so wistful, like he really wanted to know. The question kind of struck me as strange; I had never told anybody what I looked like before. How should I describe myself?

"Well, I have chestnut colored hair and eyes, and I'm short. Like, 5'5," I babbled, looking up at his face every three seconds. He chuckled and ran his fingers through my damp hair. It felt so good whenever he did that.

"I'm eleven inches taller than you?" He stood up, splashing me a little.

"Yeah," I replied, also standing up. My head came to his chest, but no higher. Either one I'm really short, or he's freakishly tall.

"Huh. That's something." I felt Iggy's chin rest against my head, and I think I could've stayed like that forever, in his arms. _Now I see why I couldn't fall asleep, God. Thank you!_

"Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a spider in your hair."

"WHAT? GET IT OFF!"

**OoOOoO**

Fang had seen Iggy leave the barn after Ella. He hoped they were talking outside, because it was so _obvious_ they like each other, it was slowly killing Fang from the inside out. He wanted them to just see it, and he prayed about it. He also prayed for him and Max, because he was pretty sure Max was oblivious to him. Okay, she talked to him and stuff; they were best friends, after all, but Fang liked her. As in, _liked_ her liked her. He didn't know how she hadn't noticed yet. Was he not obvious enough? The Flock said she liked him, and they even had this "secret" plan to get them together. Well, that plan wasn't working very well, nor was the Eggy plan, now that you mention it. Iggy and Ella were falling for each other on their own; they didn't need help from the flock. Max and Fang, however? Well, they needed all the help they could get, or at least, that was what Fang thought. Maybe Max thought differently, Fang couldn't be sure. He was usually pretty good at knowing what she was thinking, but lately, he hadn't been able too.

In short, Fang thought love was complicated.

**A/N: You guys rock! I have the best readers ever (: Also, my brother wanted me to mention him, so here you go! His pen name is **_**Warriorsman10**_**, and he writes fics for the Warriors series, if any of you read that. OH! A looooooooot of stuff is going to start happening in the next couple of chapters, just a warning. But, I have given a **_**TON**_** of foreshadowing, so see if you can guess what happens! **


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